t; and, "notwithstanding," observes one of the writers, "that
a crocodile is amphibious, several of them were found dead among the
rest."[702]

It is stated that seven hills bounding the river sank down; by which is
merely meant, as by similar expressions in the description of the
Calabrian earthquakes, seven great landslips. These hills, descending
some from one side of the valley and some from the other, filled the
channel, and the waters then finding their way under the mass, flowed
out thick and muddy. The Tangaran river was also dammed up by nine
hills, and in its channel were large quantities of drift trees. Seven of
its tributaries also are said to have been "covered up with earth." A
high tract of forest land, between the two great rivers before
mentioned, is described as having been changed into an open country,
destitute of trees, the surface being spread over with fine red clay.
This part of the account may, perhaps, merely refer to the sliding down
of woody tracts into the valleys, as happened to so many extensive
vineyards and olive-grounds in Calabria, in 1783. The close packing of
large trees in the Batavian river is represented as very remarkable, and
it attests in a striking manner the destruction of soil bordering the
valleys which had been caused by floods and landslips.[703]

_Quito_, 1698.--In Quito, on the 19th of July, 1698, during an
earthquake, a great part of the crater and summit of the volcano
Carguairazo fell in, and a stream of water and mud issued from the
broken sides of the hill.[704]

_Sicily_, 1693.--Shocks of earthquakes spread over all Sicily in 1693,
and on the 11th of January the city of Catania and forty-nine other
places were levelled to the ground, and about one hundred thousand
people killed. The bottom of the sea, says Vicentino Bonajutus, sank
down considerably, both in ports, inclosed bays, and open parts of the
coast, and water bubbled up along the shores. Numerous long fissures of
various breadths were caused, which threw out sulphurous water; and one
of them, in the plain of Catania (the delta of the Simeto), at the
distance of four miles from the sea, sent forth water as salt as the
sea. The stone buildings of a street in the city of Noto, for the length
of half a mile, sank into the ground, and remained hanging on one side.
In another street, an opening large enough to swallow a man and horse
appeared.[705]

_Moluccas_, 1693.--The small Isle of Sorea, which consists